School year Labor Day to Memorial Day?

School kids who wish for a longer summer break might have their way if a proposed bill passes through the Ohio House.

The recently introduced bill prohibits school districts from opening for instruction earlier than Labor Day and closing later than Memorial Day.

Some school officials don't see the benefits of a shorter school year, while others say they don't mind more flexibility in their schedules.

"School starts way too early," said Bob Ulas, executive director at the Lake County Visitors Bureau. "The extra income that Ohio needs through tourism would benefit the state."

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The school year stands at 182 days. The proposed bill for the 2012-13 school year would change the requirement from days into instructional hours.

The bill mandates at least 960 hours of instructional time for first through sixth grades and all-day kindergarten. Students would have 1,050 hours of instructional time for grades seven through 12. That represents an increase of 50 hours in the school year.

A school could develop its own attendance schedule, as long as it's within a five-day week.

Many districts, including Fairport Harbor Schools, are meeting or exceeding the number of hours required.

Fairport Superintendent Domenic Paolo said the district is trying to move away from counting hours.

"The number of hours in a seat doesn't equate to learning," he said.

Berkshire Schools Superintendent Doug DeLong said he thinks if they count the hours instead of the days, it'll give them a little more flexibility because schools vary in terms of the number of hours that are in session.

"If you're in session longer, that would give you more flexibility because you might go over the number," he said. "So I like it in that sense. The district usually goes over the number of hours required. So if extra days are needed, we have them."

Many schools in Northeast Ohio, especially those in the Snow Belt, need flexibility built in for the inclement weather that might occur.

However, in the proposed bill, calamity days would be eliminated.

If districts need to cancel, it would be the schools' responsibility to make up those hours as they choose.

The introduced bill not only proposes a shortened school year, but it also prohibits extracurricular activities on the Friday through Monday of Labor Day weekend.

"There is a consensus among all the visitors bureaus that schools can start after Labor Day to recognize more income for jobs and taxes in the state and revenues for the tourism industry," Ulas said.

Some school officials disagree with the bill and say it brings a burden to both parents and districts.

"For years there's been pressure to extend the school years and not shorten them."

He also noted that some of the things done in schools extend beyond those days (Labor Day to Memorial Day) and that historically most districts in most years go well into June before all activities are complete.

Willoughby-Eastlake Superintendent Keith Miller said he thinks the bill has many flaws and is not thought out very well.

"It would be very hard," he said about the changes to the schools schedule.

He said he's worried about the students who would be affected by the lengthened school day, such as those who are transported to other educational institutions during a normal day.

"We would have to crunch the amount of school days in between those two holidays," he said.

Miller added that the bill doesn't have anything to do with education; instead, it's only concerned with children leaving school so they can go on vacation.

Diringer agrees.

"It certainly relates to the lobbies that are involved," he said.

"That changes the parameters a bit. It's interesting. It would require rethinking of (school) calendars."

Philip Craig, executive director of the Ohio Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, said the organization hasn't endorsed the bill nor taken any action.

"It's always been the position of the OACVB the best people to make decisions about the education calendar are the educators and the parents," he said.